Electrical conductor connectors for terminating ribbon cables are well known. Many of the known connectors such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,429, U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,885, U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,039, U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,862, U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,025, U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,600, European Patent No. 0150593 and Canadian Patent No. 1070403 include terminal carriers which have a removable cover Which is, in one way or another, engaged with the terminal carrier to hold conductors in the connector in engagement with the terminals of the terminal carrier. Problems that frequently arise with conductor connectors of the above type are that the conductors, whether single conductors or contained in ribbon tapes, may easily be torn from the terminals in the connectors by stress applied to the conductors on the outside of the connector with which they are engaged to cause electrical disconnection of the conductors with the terminals and more often than not irreparable damage to the terminals themselves. A second problem with the known conductor connectors is that the covers for holding the conductors on the terminal carriers are components which are separate from the carriers and so easily become misplaced and prior to location over conductors engaged with the carrier terminals permit, in hostile environmental conditions such as in mines and in many industrial applications, the ingress of particulate matter and other dirt onto or into the terminal carriers with the possible consequence that the covers may be improperly located and in time become dislodged from the terminal carriers and further that the dirt may interfere with the proper electrical connection of the conductors with the terminals on those connectors in which the covers press the conductors into electrical engagement with the terminals on the terminal carriers. Further ambient moisture may affect the connectors and may generate short circuits.
It is the object of this invention to provide an electrical conductor connector which will at least minimize the problems discussed above with known conductor connectors.